Botnet Initiative

Botnet Initiative

The FBI and its law enforcement and private sector partners are developing a new strategy to dismantle botnets.

Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI along with its law enforcement and private sector partners are developing a new strategy to dismantle botnets.

Richard A. McFeely: It is a piece of malware that is inserted onto somebody’s computer—without the knowledge of the owner of the computer—that is used to do malicious activity.

Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern, and this is FBI, This Week. Botnets are a global cyber security threat and can be used to steal personal identifiable information, military, and trade secrets. In a separate but coordinated effort, the FBI recently partnered with Microsoft to disrupt more than 1,000 botnets called Citadel. Richard McFeely is the executive assistant director of the Bureau’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch.